You are here

  1. Home
  2. Professor Jamie Gaskarth

Professor Jamie Gaskarth

Profile summary

  • Central Academic Staff
  • Professor of Foreign Policy and International Relations
  • Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences
  • School of Social Sciences & Global Studies
  • Politics
  • jamie.gaskarth

Professional biography

Jamie Gaskarth was appointed Professor of Foreign Policy and International Relations at the Open University in February 2021, having previously been a Reader in Foreign Policy and International Relations at the University of Birmingham, and Senior Lecturer at Plymouth University. His research focuses on practical ethical problems in foreign policy and security and he is the author/editor of six books on international relations and foreign policy.

He is currently co-Editor in Chief of the ISA Journal of Global Security Studies and serves on the editorial board of Foreign Policy Analysis and International Studies Perspectives. Jamie also provides a regular lecture on National Strategy, Risk and Defence to the Defence Academy, Shrivenham.

He was ISA English School Section Chair, (2017-2019), appointed Visiting Professor at Sciences Po, Lyon (2018), elected trustee of the British International Studies Association (2013-2015), Convenor of the BISA Foreign Policy working group, (2008-2014) and Visiting Scholar at Berkeley, UC in 2011.

Research interests

Jamie's research looks into issues of ethics, decisionmaking and accountability, with a particular focus on UK foreign policy. His most recent book, Secrets and Spies: UK Intelligence Accountability After Iraq and Snowden (Chatham House/Brookings Institution Press, 2020) explored the challenges of holding intelligence agencies accountable when what they do is secret. He is currently developing projects on the ethical dilemmas of disinformation; and how to persuade leaders to respect human rights, using positive as well as negative reinforcement.

He would be delighted to receive applications for PhD supervision in the areas of diplomacy, foreign policy, global ethics, international society or intelligence studies.

Publications:

Books
Gaskarth, J. Secrets and Spies: Intelligence Accountability after Iraq and Snowden (London/Washington, D.C.: Chatham House/ Brookings Institution, 2020).
Gaskarth, J. (ed) China, India and the Future of International Society (London: Rowman and Littlefield, 2015).
Gaskarth, J. (ed) Rising Powers, Global Governance and Global Ethics (London: Routledge, 2015).
Edmunds, T., Gaskarth, J., and Porter, R. (eds) British Foreign Policy and the National Interest: Identity, Strategy and Security (Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2014).
Gaskarth, J. British Foreign Policy: Crises, Conflicts and Future Challenges. (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2013).
Daddow, O., and Gaskarth, J. (eds) British Foreign Policy: the New Labour Years (Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan, 2011).
Articles
Gaskarth, J. ‘William Hague’s Activist Foreign Policy: The Perils of Merging Practices.’ Cambridge Review of International Affairs. Accepted 16 May 2022.
Gaskarth, J. and Langdon, N. ‘The dilemma of Brexit: hard choices in the narrow context of British foreign policy traditions' British Politics, 16, 2021, 170-186.
Gaskarth, J. and Oppermann, K. ‘Clashing Traditions: German Foreign Policy in a New Era’ International Studies Perspectives, 22:1, 2021, 84-105. Available Open Access: https://doi.org/10.1093/isp/ekz017.
Gaskarth, J. ‘Rising Powers, Responsibility and International Society’, Ethics & International Affairs, Vol: 31, No. 3, (2017), 287-311.
Gaskarth, J. ‘The fiasco of the 2013 Syria votes: decline and denial in British foreign policy’ Journal of European Public Policy, Vol: 23, No. 5, (2016), 718-734.
Gaskarth, J. ‘Strategy in a Complex World’ RUSI Journal, Vol: 160, No. 6, (2015), 4-11.
With Leech, P. ‘British Foreign Policy and the Arab Spring’ Diplomacy and Statecraft, Vol: 26, No. 1, (March 2015), 139-160.
With Harmer, N., and Gibb, R. ‘Distant relations: identity and materiality in elite discourse on Britain’s Overseas Territories’, Global Society, Vol: 29, No. 4, (2015), 510-529.
Gaskarth, J. ‘Strategizing Britain’s Role in the World’ International Affairs Vol: 90, No. 3 (May, 2014), 559-581.
With Edmunds, T. and Porter, R., ‘Introduction’ in special issue, ‘British foreign policy and the national interest’, International Affairs Vol: 90, No.3 (May 2014), 503-507.
Gaskarth, J. ‘Interpreting ethical foreign policy: traditions and dilemmas for policymakers’ British Journal of Politics and International Relations Vol: 15, No. 2 (May, 2013), 191-209.
Gaskarth, J. ‘The Virtues in International Society’ European Journal of International Relations Vol: 18, No. 3 (Sept 2012), 431-453.
Gaskarth, J. ‘Entangling Alliances: the UK’s complicity in torture in the global war on terrorism’ International Affairs Vol: 87, No. 4 (July 2011), 945-964.
Gaskarth, J. 'Where would we be without rules? A Virtue Ethics approach to foreign policy analysis' Review of International Studies Vol: 37, No. 1 (Jan 2011), 393-415.
Gaskarth, J. 'Discourses and ethics: the social construction of British foreign policy' Foreign Policy Analysis Vol: 2, No. 4 (Oct 2006), 325-341.
Gaskarth, J. ‘Ethical policies or empty promises? New labour and human rights in British foreign policymaking’, International Journal of Human Rights, Vol: 10, No. 1, (2006), 45-60.
 
OTHER RESEARCH PUBLICATIONS (CHAPTERS IN BOOKS)
Gaskarth, J. ‘Ethics, Responsibility and Foreign Policy Analysis’ in Juliet Kaarbo and Cameron Thies, Oxford Handbook of Foreign Policy Analysis (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022).
Gaskarth, J. ‘Brexit, British Foreign Policy and Governance’ Brian McKercher (ed), Handbook of Diplomacy and Statecraft. (London: Routledge, 2022).
Gaskarth, J. ‘Culture, Diplomacy and Power Transition’ in Tonny Knudsen and Cornelia Navari (eds), Power Transition and Institutional Change - Contours of a New World Order (Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2022).
Gaskarth, J. ‘The Emerging Social Contract in Asia’ in Harsh V. Pant and Ritika Passi, Raisina Files: Debating the world in the Asian Century. (New Delhi, ORF, 2017).
Gaskarth, J. ‘Intervention, Domestic Contestation and Britain’s National Role Conceptions’ in Cantir, Cristian and Kaarbo, Juliet, Contested National Roles (London/New York: Routledge, 2016).
Bevir, M., and Gaskarth, J. ‘Global Governance and the BRICs’ in Gaskarth, Rising Powers.
Gaskarth, J., Edmunds, T., and Porter, R., ‘Introduction’ in Edmunds, Gaskarth and Porter.
Gaskarth, J. ‘The National Interest and Britain’s Role in the World’ in Edmunds, Gaskarth and Porter. Gaskarth, J. ‘The global governance of security’ in Williams, D. and Harman, S. Governing the World? The Practice of Global Governance (London: Routledge, 2013).
Daddow, O. and Gaskarth, J. ‘A Global Power with Niche Capabilities: Interpreting British Security Traditions and Dilemmas’ in Bevir, M., Daddow, O., and Hall, I. Interpreting Global Security (London: Routledge, 2013).
Gaskarth, J. ‘Ethical Legacies from New Labour’s Foreign Policy’ in Oppermann, K. (ed) British Foreign and Security Policy: Historical Legacies and Current Challenges (Augsburg: Wißner Verlag, 2012).
Gaskarth, J. ‘Identity and New Labour’s Strategic Foreign Policy Thinking’ in Daddow, O. and Gaskarth, J. British Foreign Policy: the New Labour Years (Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan, 2011).
Gaskarth, J. ‘Because they lied? New Labour, Iraq’s WMD and Trust’ Chapter 2 in Evaluating New Labour’s Policy Achievements, 1997-2009: Social Policy and Public Trust Nicholas Johns and Adrian Barton (eds) (Lampeter: Edwin Mellen Press, 2009).
 

Teaching interests

Jamie's teaching at the Open University is mainly focused on questions of international order and global ethics.

Impact and engagement

Jamie has provided policy advice to a number of UK government departments, was a member of the Academic Consultative Panel for the 2015 SDSR/NSS, offered a submission and was consulted as part of the 2020 Integrated Review, and has contributed evidence to parliamentary inquiries on the Philosophy and Culture of Aid, Global Britain, the National Security Strategy, UK Defence Strategy and Capabilities, and UK Soft Power. He has been awarded research grants from the British Academy and ESRC, looking into British foreign policy and the rising powers and international society respectively.

His recent appearance at the House of Lords International Relations and Defence Committee on UK Defence Strategy and Capabilities in May 2022 is viewable here: https://committees.parliament.uk/event/13422.

External collaborations

Gaskarth, J. ‘Fighting back against Russia — the return of propaganda’ Englesberg Ideas, April 2022, https://engelsbergideas.com/notebook/fighting-back-against-russia-the-return-of-propaganda/.
Gaskarth, J. ‘Appeasement and the Ukraine Crisis: The Whiff of Munich?’ 22 February 2022, UK in a Changing Europe, https://ukandeu.ac.uk/appeasement-and-the-ukraine-crisis/.
Gaskarth, J. ‘British Foreign Policy: What’s Next?’ 1 Sept 2021, UK in a Changing Europe, https://ukandeu.ac.uk/what-next-for-british-foreign-policy/.
Gaskarth, J. ‘Communitarian Foreign Policy: Ethics and Public Opinion’ Brief for Foreign Policy Centre submission for Integrated Review, August 2020.
Co-authored Policy Exchange report (with Prof John Bew, Gabriel Elefteriu and Prof Patrick Porter) entitled ‘Beyond Brexit: Essential reading on international affairs and security in a changing world’ (February 2018). This report was presented to the Foreign Affairs Committee.
Gaskarth, J. ‘Amid the Chilcot Report, We Must Not Forget the Lessons of Britain’s Occupation of Southern Iraq’ The Huffington Post, 6 July 2016.
Gaskarth, J. ‘Chilcot scolds Britain’s intelligence community for its role in the Iraq War’, The Conversation, 6 July 2016.

Publications

[Book Review] David Grealy. David Owen, Human Rights and the Remaking of British Foreign Policy London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2022. (2024-09-09)
Gaskarth, Jamie
Journal of British Studies ((early access))

Pragmatism as a Foreign Policy Ethos (2024)
Ralph, Jason and Gaskarth, Jamie
International Affairs ((In press))

William Hague’s Activist Foreign Policy: The Perils of Merging Practices (2023)
Gaskarth, Jamie
Cambridge Review of International Affairs, 36(4) (pp. 532-550)

Strategy, Tactics and Tilts: A Networked Approach to UK Influence in the Indo-Pacific (2023)
Gaskarth, Jamie
The RUSI Journal, 167(6/7) (pp. 12-23)

The dilemma of Brexit: hard choices in the narrow context of British foreign policy traditions (2021-06)
Gaskarth, Jamie and Langdon, Nicola
British Politics, 16 (pp. 170-186)

Clashing Traditions: German Foreign Policy in a New Era (2021-02-01)
Gaskarth, Jamie and Oppermann, Kai
International Studies Perspectives, 22(1) (pp. 84-105)

The absent dialogue: politicians, bureaucrats and the military in India [Book Review] (2021)
Gaskarth, Jamie
Defence Studies, 21(2) (pp. 268-269)

Secrets and Spies: UK Intelligence Accountability After Iraq and Snowden (2020-02-18)
Gaskarth, Jamie
A Chatham House Insights Series book
ISBN : 9780815737971, 9780815737988 | Publisher : Brookings Institution Press / Chatham House | Published : Washington, D.C. / London

Foreign Policy Analysis and Ethics of Responsibility (2024-02-01)
Gaskarth, Jamie
In: Kaarbo, Juliet and Thies, Cameron G. eds. The Oxford Handbook of Foreign Policy Analysis. Oxford Handbooks (pp. 134-153)
ISBN : 9780191878961 | Publisher : Oxford University Press | Published : Oxford, UK

Culture, Diplomacy and Power Transition (2022-07-09)
Gaskarth, Jamie
In: Knudsen, Tonny Brems and Navari, Cornelia eds. Power Transition in the Anarchical Society: Rising Powers, Institutional Change and the New World Order. Palgrave Studies in International Relations (PSIR) (pp. 203-230)
ISBN : 978-3-030-97710-8 | Publisher : Palgrave Macmillan, Cham